


Suffocating Snow

by Cumbermarvel (UglyJackal)



Series: Stephen and the Dragon [3]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Christmas Fluff, M/M, i swear it IS fluffy - there's just some angst too, stephen strange loves animals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-09-30 23:00:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17232764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UglyJackal/pseuds/Cumbermarvel
Summary: And eventually, she let herself be carried away by the icy hands of the wind, hoping against hope that she wouldn’t land too far away from home.





	Suffocating Snow

**Author's Note:**

> this is set awhile after the events of Endgame
> 
> I know this is after Christmas but I was very unmotivated to write this and happened to finish it after Christmas, so you may enjoy Christmas once more
> 
> (apologies for typos, I tried to get most of em but some of em probably escaped my attention)

Suffocating snow encompassed her like a blanket; wrapping around her legs and neck, stuffing her nose and ears, blinding her. She couldn’t see three feet in front of her, she had lost the others. She tried to descend to the ground but the wind swept her up, up, up. It was as though large hands were trying to keep her from safety, keep her from the nice warm barn, keep her from the sweet lichen that grew around this time of year, keep her from the comfort of the rest of her herd.

With each kick of her legs, her energy was drained bit by bit, rendering her unable to get to safety. And eventually, she let herself be carried away by the icy hands of the wind, hoping against hope that she wouldn’t land too far away from home.

* * *

 

‘I feel like I’m in Ghostbusters,’ Stephen groused, as he brushed slime from his face. ‘Who on earth thinks that a bucket of slime is going to get rid of a demon?’

Wong rolled his eyes. ‘Just get over here and help, would you?’ he said. His hands were currently occupied with holding onto the struggling creature trying to get back into the safety of the walls. It was an ugly, black thing, stinking of rotten peaches and covered in the sticky slime that had fallen on both it and Stephen.

The sorcerer waved his hands nonchalantly and cast a portal underneath it, leading out into the depths of a black hole. Wong pushed and shoved the demon through the gap in space and time, while Stephen held it open. With a final shove, the demon lost its scrabbling grip on the side of the portal and fell into the murky swamp below it, and with a flick of his hand, Stephen snapped the portal shut.

Wong stumbled back, breathing a little heavier after the exertion. He turned to look at Stephen. ‘And you’re sure there’s nothing else?’

The sorcerer nodded his head. ‘We’ve moved the kelpies to a safer location, as well as the dragon eggs and the basilisk hatchling. And the pegasus has been returned to Asgard - I’m sure Thor will be pleased. That demon was the last of them, though he was corrupt, so we had to dispose of him.’

‘I’m just glad that you didn’t adopt anymore pets.’

‘I wouldn’t dream of it!’

‘I saw how you were petting that kelpie foal,’ Wong retaliated with folded arms, as they exited the house.

‘It lost its mother, what else was I supposed to do?’ Stephen said, exasperatedly. ‘Plus she was soft…’ he added quietly.

The librarian rolled his eyes again, but looked fondly at the taller man. His love for animals was neither bound by earthly barriers nor the danger; if there was an animal in distress - no matter if it could shred him to pieces or just gently rub against his aching hands - Stephen would be there to help in some way or another.

And when he heard the jingling bells that seemed to come from the stars themselves, he felt a shadow fall over him.

‘Did you hear that too, or have I got demons stuck in my ears?’ the sorcerer asked.

‘No, I heard that too,’ Wong replied. ‘It seems to be coming from… the roof.’

Both wizards looked up.

And saw the silhouette of a reindeer cast against the star-lit sky, the moon glinting off of bells that hung around its neck. It was looking around, and seemed to be confused as to how it had landed on the roof.

‘Well… I don’t think she should be up there,’ Stephen said.

‘She?’

‘Male reindeer lose their antlers in the winter, females don’t,’ the mage said, ‘and she most certainly has hers.’

Of course he had that information stored up there. He was Doctor Stephen Strange, the man who could remember a thousand different surgeries at the glance of some patient records.

‘Well, she can’t stay up there, so what are we doing?’ he asked.

‘I’ll fly up and see if she wants to come down.’

‘How are you going to get her down?’

There was a silence that beat like a heart for a few moments.

‘I’ll figure that out when I get up there,’ Stephen said, a little sheepishly.

The Cloak billowed behind him as he was lifted from the ground; he went slowly and carefully, making sure not to spook the animal. She snorted at him and backed away, cloven hooves slipping on the ice, but thankfully, she managed to keep her balance.

Once his own feet were on the roof, he called to her. ‘Hi there, lassie,’ he said, voice affectionate and comforting, ‘how’d you get up here then, eh? I can help you down, I’m sure you don’t want to stay up here all night. Too cold for that.’

The reindeer looked at him apprehensively. In her eyes shone a fearful galaxy filled with golden bells and red berries, mingling into one to form the ashes of a panicked cosmos. There was  _ something _ about her, something that collected in the air around her, an aura, a something that was fading, but only just hanging on. And it was something that Stephen had never encountered before.

She took a timid step towards him, her nose reaching out, searching out something to make her run. Her ears flickered and her eyes lit up as she seemed to smell something that she liked. She took a few more careful steps, though they were slightly hurried in her haste to get towards that something.

Stephen reached out his hands, ready to meet her and hold her, tell that she was safe.

And then she slipped.

With a sickening bellow that rang off of the stars themselves, she fell, hooves desperately trying to find purchase as gravity tugged on her. The roof tiles clattered against her hooves, punctuating her calls with sickening cruelty.

His reaction was one of the quickest that he had ever made in his life. A bolt of the sun shot down from his hands to the quickly descending antlers. ‘Get something under her feet, Wong!’ he shouted down to his still-grounded friend.

Wong summoned a shield underneath her as Stephen’s rope of light tightened around her antlers and she stopped falling. She had landed on her side on Wong’s shield and Stephen’s rope pulled her head up. She staggered back to her feet and started to circle, looking for a way to get down, looking for that something that she had sensed from the wizard back on the roof.

Stephen dissolved the rope, so that it didn’t start to tangle around her antlers. ‘Okay, set her down gently,’ he said as he, himself, floated down to the ground.

The reindeer jumped off of the shield once it was a safe distance from the ground, and spun in circles again, snorting and flicking her ears.

‘Easy now, sweetie,’ the mage said. At the sound of his voice, the reindeer stopped and then trotted towards him, sniffing around his hands and legs.

‘She seems to like you,’ Wong remarked, tilting his head.

‘What can I say? I guess I’ve got a gift.’

* * *

Stephen took the reindeer home, despite Wong’s wishes of not having another pet. But the librarian, deep down, didn’t mind, because Stephen Strange’s biggest weakness was animals, and he would move heaven and earth, time and space, to help one. And the Sanctum was big enough for another animal.

She was named Flash. The sorcerer didn’t provide a reason, and Wong realised that he didn’t really have to. It was almost as though someone had told them what her name was, it just seemed to suit her.

She wandered around the lounge of the Sanctum with mild interest in her twitching nostrils, sniffing many of the various relics standing around. She scratched her shoulder on the banister of the stairs and bit experimentally into the rug. Stephen called for Vishanti and Tao to come and meet the newest arrival to their bizarre family.

Claws clicked on the varnished wood as the dog and dragon bounded into the room. Upon seeing the reindeer nibbling at the rug, Vishanti stood in front of Tao and raised his hackles. Tao snorted in amusement. Though she was still growing, she had never been one to shy away from a potential new friend, and she stepped forward, sniffing at the scent of earth and snow that clung to the thick fur of the reindeer. She got even closer, her tail waving, and started to nudge at Flash’s legs, winding between them and almost asking for some playtime.

Flash bellowed and stumbled backwards, away from the small dragon. She tilted her head and shook her antlers, stomping a hoof on the floor as she tried to work out what this bizarre little creature was. She was the size of a small cat and the reindeer seemed almost frightened of her.

Tao flapped her wings and heaved herself into the air, rising up to eye level with the larger animal. Flash snorted and stumbled backwards again, her hooves slipping on the floor as though it was made of ice, as she scrambled over to hide behind the stoic presence of Stephen. The sorcerer chuckled and put a shaking hand on Flash’s head, between her ears. Her fur was coarse, like a heavy curtain and it was warm, soothing the frosty aches in his fingers.

‘Now, now,’ he said, ‘don’t frighten our new guest, Tao.’

The small dragon squeaked and wagged her tail. She flew up to Stephen’s shoulder and perched there, nuzzling against his jaw. He smiled at the contact and knelt down to Flash, so that she could sniff at the mythical beast on his shoulder. ‘There, see?’ he said, as the reindeer nudged her nose against Tao’s chin. ‘Not so scary after all, huh?’

Vishanti crept over, keeping a wide berth away from the reindeer. He was from the desert, she was from the tundra, and though they may be polar opposites, they could come together in the most intrinsic of ways. He would be the piercing temperature that would scald skin, but she was the feeling that came with the pain, the way that heat was almost freezing in its burn. He would be the lava that fell down the side of the volcano, destroying anything it touched, but she was the cooling calm that lay a molten rock layer over the top of his rage. And in this coming together of elements, there came a friendship that would surely last.

The dog’s ghostly muzzle sniffed and nudged at the reindeer’s furred one, and his tail waved, particles touching together as they passed through the atmosphere, stars and meteorites interlocked in their display of contentment.

And from that day, Flash made a bond with Tao and Vishanti that would grow stronger by the day.

* * *

That night, Stephen left Flash to wander around the Sanctum. ‘I’ll find you someplace to sleep tomorrow,’ he said, scratching behind the reindeer’s ears, ‘but for now, you can just find a comfy sofa to lay on.’

And then Flash was left alone. Tao and Vishanti went to cuddle up on Stephen’s bed, his warmth seeping into their skin and sending them to sleep. And Flash  _ missed _ them. She missed the sense of magic, the glittering heat that caressed her shoulders and held onto her heart and lungs, the sun that settled in her stomach and stabilised her life force.

It was like being close to her owner before again. Her old owner with magic of old, dating back to when the earth was nothing more than ice and soil, to when space was nothing but an empty husk with no walls to hold it in, to when stars were fabled creatures, to when the moon was an undiscovered landscape of wonder, to when people were not determined to explain everything away with science. To a happier time.

Flash searched around for a source of magic like she found in the tall wizard. She stood near cauldrons of cosmoses and wardrobes of warlocks, armoires of the all-fathers and vases of Vishanti, but nothing could satisfy that empty hole in her lungs like the wizard.

So she went in search of him instead.

She sniffed the air for that strawberry scent that she knew so well. She climbed the stairs, slipping every so often on the polished wood. She gave her fur a shake as she stood at the top and then followed the scent down the corridor. The door right at the end was filled to the brim with sweetness and her ears flapped as she shoved the door open.

On the bed, bathed in moonlight from the open curtains, lay Stephen sprawled on his belly, with hair sticking in all directions. At his side lay Vishanti, head resting on the mage’s bicep, and on his back, with her nose buried in Stephen’s hair, lay Tao.

Flash snorted, causing the two animals to stir and look up. Tao wagged her tail upon seeing the reindeer, while Vishanti stood up and stretched.

The larger animal flapped her ears and walked with a spring in her step to the side of the bed. She lifted her front hooves up on the mattress, and then heaved the rest of her body up onto the bed. Now standing on the bed, she stepped closer to the sleeping sorcerer and settled down next to him, half laying on top of him.

With a startled yelp, Stephen woke up and looked to his left to see a large furred muzzle in his face. He blinked in confusion, and then the reindeer snorted in his face, blowing the strands of his hair that stuck up like blades of grass. Then she licked the spear of his cheekbone and called to him quietly.

‘Your antlers are gonna hit me in the head while we sleep, Flash,’ Stephen mumbled sleepily.

She grunted at him and rested her chin on his shoulder, while looking at him with pleading eyes.

‘Ugh, fine, I’ll risk being impaled,’ he sighed.

Vishanti, who had moved to allow Flash some space to sleep, moved back to lay across Stephen’s legs.

It was a rather strange sight that met Wong when he entered Stephen’s room to wake him the next morning.

* * *

 

The next morning was Christmas Eve and the streets were filled with last-minute shoppers, rushing over the frost-dusted paths as though the world was ending. And Stephen was getting more and more irritated.

He had been pushed from one side of the pavement to another, and it didn’t help that he had a reindeer trailing behind him, a fire crackling in her knees. He was rather surprised that only a handful of children had pointed gleefully at the animal, but then it was New York, and stranger things had happened, he supposed. After all, he was able to grasp onto time itself and bend it in whatever way he pleased.

He made his way into a large pet store, in search of something appropriate to feed the new member of his bizarre little family. He walked through the doors and was relieved to see that it wasn’t so nearly crowded in the store as it was out on the streets. He was able to gently slip past customers that stood around inspecting products without them even looking in his direction. At least until-

‘Sir!’ Somewhere from behind him, a rather disgruntled voice called out to him.

With a tense expression on his face, he turned around to see a stand on the floor, items spilling out onto the floor like the scene of a battle. ‘Sir, please try not to knock things over,’ the employee said. 

It was Christmas Eve, he could forgive the lilt of bad manners in their voice. But what he could not forgive was being accused of something he had not done. ‘I’m sorry… but I didn’t knock that stand over,’ he said, as he knelt down to help pick some of the products up. He noted that, on the floor, lay several packets of lichen; about three handfuls of it in each bag, perfect for a reindeer to snack on. Speaking of, Flash was currently nudging at a packet. So that was how the stand had fallen over. 

‘No, sir,’ the employee said, clearly exhausted of having to deal with customers for the Christmas period. 

‘Can I ask why you’re selling lichen? Reindeer eat that, not dogs or cats,’ he asked. 

‘Christmas season. People love feeding reindeer and it’s much healthier than carrots, and their natural food that they would eat in the wild.’

‘I’ll take as many as you have.’

‘I’m sorry?’ 

‘I’ll take as many as you have,’ Stephen repeated. At his shoulder, he felt a small puff of air as Flash snuffled at his shirt. Why the employee was confused about why he would want lichen was beyond him. 

‘I… okay, sir,’ they said, deciding that it wasn’t worth it to argue with a paying customer. 

Stephen had, in his pocket, a total of ten dollars, so was only able to take around twenty packets, at fifty cents a bag. He felt rather foolish about proclaiming his ability to buy as many packets of the moss as the store had, but he would put it down to pure excitement if anybody asked. 

He fought his way back through the battlefield of the New York City street, back to the Sanctum. As the door clicked shut behind him and Flash, he breathed a loud sigh of relief and dusted the flakes of snow from his shoulders and the reindeer’s back. The Cloak flapped over to him and nuzzled its collar into Stephen’s sharpened cheekbones; it had missed him, if sentient pieces of fabric had the ability to miss somebody. As it settled on his shoulders, the mage gave it a good-natured pat with a hand that trembled far worse that usual. 

The next person to inspect his presence was, in fact, two animals. Vishanti and Tao galloped into the room, claws clicking on the varnished wood. Flash let out a bellow as she saw the small dragon, trotting over and prancing around her like a young calf. Tao was equally happy to see the reindeer and squeaked merrily at her, wings flapping at twice the speed as she turned in circles. Stephen settled a hand on the dead dog’s head, smiling as he felt the familiar feeling of stars and planets crashing and sizzling under his skin. 

At last, coming out of the kitchen to see what all the noise was about, came Wong. He smiled at the sight of a weary Stephen. ‘I just started to make some food,’ he said. ‘Did shopping go well?’

The sorcerer held up his bag from the pet store. ‘I went in looking for hay, but they had some lichen, so I bought that instead.’

The librarian nodded, unsurprised that his partner had managed to find something even better for the reindeer. ‘I put some slices of bread in the toaster,’ he said, and then at the sight of Stephen’s hopeful face, he added, ‘and seeing as you left before having any breakfast, I put some in for you too.’

‘Wong, you are a gem,’ the wizard said, striding over to him and planting a kiss on the man’s forehead.

‘Oh, do shut up,’ he retorted, though he tilted his head up and returned his partner’s kiss.

‘Absolutely not,’ Stephen said, placing a hand on Wong’s jaw, ‘I love you and I demand to show it.’

‘And who am I to deny you of what you want?’ the librarian chuckled. Then his brow furrowed as he felt the trembling grip on his face. ‘Stephen… your hands.’

‘It’s the cold, that’s all, don’t worry about it.’

Wong took the wizard by the sleeve of his jumper and dragged him over to sit down in front of the fireplace where a dragon egg once incubated. ‘Wong, honestly, don’t wor-’

‘Do they hurt?’ his partner cut over him. 

‘What?’

‘Do your hands hurt?’ 

He looked down at them, hands that burned with the cold that had wriggled underneath his skin, burrowed into his veins, nested in his broken nerves. The frost chewed on the insides of his hands, spat acid into his blood, froze the metal inside his bones, made him feel every twitch, every flinch, every movement he made. The cold turned the old train track scars into scalding scabs of pure, unadulterated agony. “Hurt” was an understatement. 

‘Yes, they do.’

The next few minutes were filled with heat and soothing, water and gentle touches, wet rags and winces. Wong was so gentle when he was hurting, something that Stephen was more than thankful for. The doctors were always rough, they didn’t take time whenever they were treating him. They just needed to see the next patient. And he was guilty of being the same.

Flash had walked into the room and rested her head on Stephen’s knee. The wizard was thankful that her antlers were rather short and slim, because otherwise he would have been stabbed in the face with them. Once Wong had finished warming the sorcerer’s hands and stood up, the reindeer forced herself into Stephen’s lap, pushing him back against the chair. 

‘Oh my god, my legs are going to fall off,’ Stephen yelped, scratching between Flash’s ears. 

Wong was staring, wet rag drying in his hand, with a small smile on his face. And though he willed the gods not to allow him to laugh, the gods ignored his plea. A loud giggle fell from his lips that broke into a broad grin as he saw his partner pinned down to a chair by an animal that, by all laws of physics, should not have been able to sit comfortably on his lap, but was, in fact, sitting on his lap in considerable comfort, licking his bearded jaw. 

Stephen looked over at him and rolled his eyes. He shifted as best he could into a less bone-crunching position, and lay his arms around Flash’s neck, scratching at her withers. She flapped her ears merrily and licked his jaw again, red-flecked golden eyes illuminated in her joy.

* * *

 

Stephen was not the only one to receive such enthusiastic affection from the reindeer. Later that evening, just before he and the sorcerer were about to settle down for the night in wait for Christmas Day, Wong was sorting through books in the library, making sure they remained unharmed in their various magical abilities. He sat on the floor with assorted piles of books surrounding him like a fortress. His system wouldn’t have made any sense to anyone else but him, not even the great mind of Stephen Strange could crack the code of Wong’s book-sorting system - for him, there were too many piles, too many headers and subheaders. But it made perfect sense to Wong; the more criteria to tick off, the better, the more effective his sorting would be. 

He was completely concentrated in his work, the creaking symphony of the Sanctum walls almost rocking him through completing his work, and at the same time, nudging him further towards his eyelids drooping and his brain switching off to sleep for the night. 

And then there was a noise. 

Wong was on his feet immediately, the notion of sleep forgotten, his nerves highly attuned to every abnormal sound. He desperately willed for the clicking of claws on the wooden floors, at least then he could relax in the knowledge that it was just Vishanti or Tao. But instead, he heard something deeper than claws, something heavier, and there seemed to be the crackle of a bonfire as whatever it was walked. He furrowed his brow as he searched the dark shelves for the source of the noise. And then-

A grunt. A honk.

‘Oh, it’s just you, Flash,’ the librarian said, relieved, as he saw the reindeer standing in front of him, ears flapping. The crackling had been the sound of tendons slipping over the bones in her feet - he would have to ask Stephen about what use the sound served.

He sat back down on the floor amongst his fortress of books. No sooner had he sat down, there was a reindeer sitting in his lap, chin resting on his shoulder.

And now if Stephen had been laughing at him, Wong may have pushed him through a portal straight into the Atlantic Ocean. The eye roll made sense suddenly. 

He sat there, cuddling a reindeer, for several minutes, minutes that stretched into half an hour, and then close to an hour. An hour in which he got no work done. An hour in which he was brought to giving up and heading to bed. The warmth that emanates from the reindeer’s coarse fur enveloped him like a scratchy blanket, making him more and more tired, until he was absolutely not able to function anymore that night. 

‘Flash,’ he said quietly, ‘you’re gonna have to go and find Stephen, I have to go to bed now.’

The reindeer grunted sadly, but cooperated and allowed Wong to stand up. He petted her ears with a smile on his face before starting to replace the safest books on the shelves and leave the questionable ones on his desk.

While he was busy, Flash turned and wandered out of the library in search of Stephen. 

The mage in question was in the sitting room, in front of the fireplace, reading. Vishanti lay on his lap and Tao lounged on the back of the chair he sat in, looking over his shoulder at the words on the page with mild interest. Being a dragon, she couldn’t actually read, but the marks of ink in the book danced and swam in such hypnotic ways.

Flash stood next to the chair and grunted for Stephen’s attention. The wizard had already heard the clicking of her knees and he chuckled to himself as he realised that the sound had alerted him to her presence and told him exactly where she was, which was what the tendon was designed to do.

‘It’s quite remarkable, isn’t it?’ Stephen said, moving the book out of the way so that he could see the reindeer. ‘How you’ve made a herd of us in just two days.’

In answer, she flapped her ears and grunted again, nudging his hand with her muzzle. Stephen complied and scratched her behind the ears, smiling at how she leaned into the touch. ‘I’d let you sit up here,’ he said, ‘but I’m loathe to move Vishanti.’ This time, she made no answer and lay down at his feet instead, body under his ankles. ‘And now you’re a footstool,’ he chuckled.

He went back to reading his book, eyes drinking in the information that he had read countless times, mind reminiscing of days long lost when Tao was nothing but an egg in a cauldron. Dragons lived for hundreds, if not thousands of years, so he would not be grieving for her any time soon, but he missed the days where he could swaddle her in a blanket and rock her to sleep when she awoke crying in the night. He missed the dependence, the feeling of being needed. And while Tao still cuddled with him and squeaked in delight whenever he entered a room, he missed the way that she would come to him for food or warmth, when she couldn’t get it herself. For now, she was able to hunt the mice that sometimes ran through the walls of the Sanctum, now she understood that if she was cold, all she had to do was lay in the path of the sun shining through the window. She was starting to not need her mother anymore.

Maybe this was the feeling of redundancy that he had been told that parents felt about their children.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a window creak.

‘Wong?’ he called.

Vishanti and Tao had jumped from the chair and had gone to investigate the sound. Stephen stood and followed them, making sure not to step on Flash’s foot as he went. The reindeer seemed to change suddenly. Everything about her seemed a little brighter, from her hooves to her mood, and she almost galloped to investigate what the sound was. Stephen flicked his hand and his pyjamas melted into his blue robes as he followed his animals, the Cloak latched onto his shoulders as he went.

He entered the room to find Flash hopping from hoof to hoof in excitement as she looked at a man that looked older than the sun climbing through the window, while Vishanti and Tao were growling and snapping in his direction.

Stephen furrowed his brow. ‘Are you serious?’ he said, as he took in the red suit with the white trim, the belly stuffed full of mince pies, and the large brown sack sitting on the floor under the window.

‘Could you, uh… maybe call your dogs back?’ the man said, rosy cheeks tense in the sheepish grin.

‘She’s a dragon,’ the mage said. ‘Vishanti, Tao, give it a rest.’ At Stephen’s word, they backed off, if a little reluctantly.

The man climbed fully into the Sanctum and grinned almost impossibly wider, hands on his bulging belly, as he looked around. ‘Thank you, sir,’ he said, ‘now… I believe you have-’ his eyes lit up as Flash charged towards him and nuzzled his hand; he laughed and knelt down to scratch her ears - ‘there you are! My lovely Blitzen, we missed you!’

Both the dragon and the dog had their heads tilted, their confusion weighing them down. Stephen, too, was completely agog.

‘I’m sorry, but… what?’ he said.

‘This is my reindeer,’ the man said, ‘her name is Blitzen, and she pulls my sleigh on Christmas Eve.’

‘I’ve battled against giant squids made of asteroids and women with feathers for skin, and yet none of them have made me as confused as this,’ the sorcerer said, ‘you’re… Santa Claus? Saint Nick? Kris Kringle? Father Christmas?’

‘Yes, yes, yes, and yes,’ Santa chortled.

‘And I have one of your nine reindeer in my house?’

‘Yes.’

‘Of course this happened to me, who else could it have possibly happened to?’

‘I hate to interrupt, but I’m in a little bit of a rush,’ the man said with a laugh, ‘so, here are your presents-’ he pulled out four wrapped gifts from the sack - ‘and, if I may, I’ll take my reindeer back, please?’

Stephen’s face fell as he took the presents in his hands. He enjoyed having the reindeer in the Sanctum; she was nice to have around and her presence was a calming one. She had fit in like she had always been there, it was difficult to imagine life without her. But, she had a job to do.

‘Yes, I suppose you should take her back,’ he said. He put the presents on the floor and knelt down to her, his hands ran through her coarse fur and he pressed his lips to her nose for a moment. ‘I’ve loved having you here, Fl-Blitzen,’ he muttered to her.

She nuzzled his face and flapped her ears, licking his jaw.

‘Now, you go make some kids happy, yeah?’ he said, standing up.

‘Thank you, Stephen,’ Santa said with a jolly smile.

And with that they were gone, up, up, and away, into the night, in a flurry of stardust. Stephen hurried to the window to see if he could make out a sleigh gliding through the air pulled by nine reindeer that ran with the stars.

But he couldn’t.

* * *

 

Across the world, children rose with the sun, waking their parents and rushing downstairs to inspect their gifts. In New York, it was no different. The inhabitants of 177A Bleecker Street had woken up and trudged downstairs, yawning and stretching. They sat around the tree, the only sounds in the room that of ripping paper and cries of delight, followed by the rubber squeaking of the dragon’s new toy bone, and the barks of the ghost dog as he played with her, the shiny new collar around his neck rustling against skin of dust and nebulas. The two sorcerers leaned against one another, as one relayed the story of the previous night. They both looked at the present that had been wrapped for her; the collar of bells that she had worn when they first met, with the gold shining and the leather polished.

And now, they had no way to give it to her.

‘I have your present planned for you, my love,’ Wong said, ‘maybe it will make you feel better.’ He set down the book that Stephen had gotten for him - an old sappy romance classic that Stephen, and Stephen alone, knew that Wong loved.

They went for a sandwich in their favourite deli, and though it didn’t sound much to some, it meant the world to them. This place where they went for their first date; this place outside which they had their first kiss; this place where they got their meals from each time they could scrounge together the smallest bit of money.

‘I can’t believe I blew all of our money on food for a reindeer that we lost that same day,’ Stephen said, sadness in his tone.

‘Don’t worry about it,’ Wong said, ‘who was to know what would happen?’

‘But we spent  _ months _ saving for that,’ the sorcerer rebutted, ‘I could have at least saved some of it.’

‘Hey,’ the librarian said, ‘it’s Christmas, stop beating yourself up over it, okay?’

‘I guess.’

On their way home, Wong pointed out a light in the shape of some mistletoe and smiled at Stephen. ‘Traditions are traditions,’ he said. The Sorcerer Supreme grinned and leaned down to kiss his partner squarely on the mouth. Those familiar lips that felt like home. He’d probably die if he was, for some reason, unable to kiss them again.

When they returned to the Sanctum, there was an excited barking and squeaking from the sitting room. ‘They’re probably still playing with that bone that we got them,’ Stephen said with a smile. As they opened the door to the room, Stephen almost dropped to the floor at the sight that met him.

Underneath their sparkling tree, amongst all of the wrapping paper, stood a reindeer with a ribbon tied to her antler. And it wasn’t just any reindeer; no other could sparkle with magic of old like she could.

‘Blitzen!’ Stephen cried, and rushed forward to embrace her. He nuzzled his cheek into her warm neck, and he grinned as he felt her ears flap against the back of his head. He leaned back and kissed her on the nose, and then noticed something dangling from her antler. He took it in his trembling hands.

A piece of paper.

‘ _ I’ll collect her next Christmas Eve - just don’t give her too many mince pies now! - S. _ ’

**Author's Note:**

> Buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/stephenstrangestan


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